The Best Livestock

Our preference is to use only traditional British breeds of livestock. We work closely with our farmers in Lancashire, Cheshire and Cumbria to rear specially for us slow maturing breeds. The beef is from breeds such as Aberdeen Angus, Galloway, Hereford, Shorthorn cattle. Our lambs are Swaledale, Herdwick and Dalesbread, when in season we will have lamb reared on the Morecombe Bay salt marshes. Pork is from Saddleback or Gloucester Old Spot Pork. We will also use any interesting or rare breed that our farmer friends have available. All the above will give meat that has taken longer to rear and has a little more fat but the reward is much more flavour and tenderness than meat from a supermarket.

Grass-Fed

The cattle we use for our beef are from animals all under 30 months which have been grazed & finished on a natural grass-fed diet. This is unlike the majority of cattle in the UK beef herd that are usually fed an intensive grain-fed diet two months prior to slaughter so they can increase their weight dramatically. Grass-fed beef is lower in overall fat and saturated fat. It also has 15% to 50% more of the beneficial omega-3 fats which you usually find in oily fish, seeds and soyabeans. Other nutritional benefits include a higher vitamin E content and higher levels of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), a nutrient that as been associated with lower cancer risk.

Matured Correctly

To give you the finest eating experience we mature our beef for 28 days and our lamb and pork for up to 14 days before butchery. Maturation of meat is an art in itself. We prefer to use ‘dry aging’ this is where our cold room humidity and temperatures are closely monitored. During this maturation process the natural enzymes and acidity slowly break down the structure of the meat to make it tender and to add flavour. During this process we are looking to develop a wonderful natural ‘crust’ of yeast and moulds on the outside of the meat. It is an expensive way to prepare meat as up to 10% will be lost to the air as moisture evaporates and the flavours concentrate. Trimming this inedible ‘crust’ before butchery results in a further weight loss. It may seem hard to believe but this process is not dissimilar to producing a fine wine.

Highly skilled Master Butchers

The skills of our master butchers and a passion for the meat they prepare are a key reason why our meat is so different from meat sold in supermarkets. Your meat will not be prepared in a factory but will be carefully butchered to give you less waste and a much more enjoyable eating experience. We don’t just sell meat we sell ourselves – if there is anything you wish to know about meat whether it is what to buy, how to cook, or anything else just give us a call. Remember, we are the experts, you will be speaking to someone who knows about meat we are not just distributors for someone else’s products.

Made Using Only Finest Ingredients

Why are our sausages, burgers and other meat products so good and why have they won so many awards? Simple, if you use the best ingredients then together with our heritage recipes you will make the best products. As an example our Albert’s Original sausage seasoning was developed almost 75 years ago by the founder Albert Matthews and we use only the finest quality ground herbs and spices. Our sausage are made to the same recipe’s and using the same methods used by Albert Matthews all those years ago.